


Teru Teru Bozu

by mywasteddream



Category: Arashi (Band), BREAKERZ, NewS (Band), TOKIO
Genre: AU heian era, AU japan, Multi, Slice of Life, appearance of Kitagawa Keiko and Omasa Aya, arashi friendship, mentions and appearance Johnny's, supernatural ability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 23:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3874582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mywasteddream/pseuds/mywasteddream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teru teru bozu is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent a rainy day. If it succeeds it will be paid with golden bells and sweet sake. If it fails, it will be beheaded as an offering to the gods. The teru teru bozu's task in the kingdom of Koirie extends to mastering the weather as requested by both the nobles and the peasants of the country.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teru Teru Bozu

_Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu_  
_Do make tomorrow a sunny day_  
_Like the sky in a dream sometime_  
_If it’s sunny I’ll give you a golden bell._

 _Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu_  
_Do make tomorrow a sunny day_  
_If you make my wish come true_  
_We’ll drink lots of sweet sake._

 _Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu_  
_Do make tomorrow a sunny day_  
_but if it’s cloudy and I find you crying_  
_Then I shall snip your head off._

 

******* 

 

Ninomiya Shrine in the kingdom of Koirie is adorned by thousands of golden bells. Some of them are pure gold with precious stones embedded into their bodies, they make muffled sound, but they are the most beautiful. Some of them are made of steel or bronze with gold paper to cover the outer part of the bell, these come in different sizes and they make the most beautiful sound, high and low pitch that sing together in harmony when the wind moves them to chime. The bells glisten in sunlight when the sky is bright and the wind is calm. The bells sing and cry when the rain comes and wind blows hard. The bells make people who visit the shrine marvelled from their beauty.

At the gate of the shrine, from the old wooden tori that stands majestically at the bottom of the hill, looking towards the capital city, and up to the chozuya where people cleanse themselves before they pray, barrels of sake are put on top of one another, making a colorful wall. These are put together with a shimenawa made from the year’s yield of straw and adorned too with golden bells. The sake at the tori is meant for lesser gods, they are given by the villagers for keeping the season from straying and giving them good yield of rice, fruits, and vegetables. Another wall of sake barrels are put near the main building, by each of the shrine's guarding dogs. These are from the nobles, the best sake given to the higher gods who give them good weather and good yield.

But behind the veils of gold and the sweet smell of maturing sake that adorn Ninomiya Shrine, hidden in the inner sanctuary of the shrine, lay a stone darkened with splashes of dried blood. There, the highest priest of the shrine - kannushi or god master, were beheaded one by one as they fail to fulfill the wishes of the kingdom’s people. The shrine has been the keeping of the kingdom’s teru teru bozu who takes role of the head priest and controls the weather of the whole country. When a teru teru bozu is beheaded, the strongest of the apprentice will be chosen according to the gods’ liking. When a teru teru bozu dies from natural cause or accident, his or her heir will inherit the position.

Ninomiya Kazunari is the current teru teru bozu of the country. His father was beheaded when he was ten. After which his cousin once removed was chosen as the next teru teru bozu, for the following six years until a long draught washed over the land and he was beheaded as he was deemed unable to please the gods and the people. Then Kazunari was chosen as the successor of the shrine. He was sixteen when he obtained the name Ninomiya, as the normalcy for a head priest to be called as the name of his shrine. He is now coming to thirty, which makes him the longest person to head the Ninomiya Shrine.

“I am afraid you might soon meet your time,” says Taichi when he visits from the city. Taichi is a noble and he talks cynically every time the comes to the shrine to hand in the wish of the king to the kannushi. He visits the shrine every time the king requests for a sunny day, and he has seen since his childhood that it might end up as the teru teru bozu’s doom. “Our new king is not the most reasonable person, asking this in the peak of rainy season,” he looks around to make sure that no one is around to hear him talking bad of the king.

Kazunari waves his hand to gesture that there is nobody around. Nobody is allowed in the inner chamber aside from the teru teru bozu and his guests. And they are sitting right face to face in the middle of the room, surrounded by walls and closed doors. For someone in the class of Taichi, Kazunari often goes down from his seat for the talk.

“But I do understand why he is insisting on a seven day wedding party for the princess in the middle of a rainy season because it is the belief in the family of the groom to be, that bad weather during wedding period means bad luck,” Taichi continues, “It is, however, against the nature to wish for sunny day in the rainy season. And the farmers need rain in the early planting season. Seven days of no rain will bring us to starvation.”

“Can we request him to have the party in-door instead? Or postpone the wedding, perhaps? The rainy season will last for only two or three weeks, not more, then summer will come and the king can have his sunny day," Kazunari says. It's not that a wedding should be done in a certain day. Surely it can wait for a bit longer.

“Please don’t make my life even more difficult, Ninomiya-sama. The wedding itself is political,” Taichi cuts in, “It is also for the safety of our kingdom. Our kingdom is small and we have no military power parallel to the kingdoms around us. We have to make allies. And the kingdoms are on the move. War is coming up from south. We have to secure our allies before the war comes at our door."

Kazunari nods his head, hands wrapped in front of his chest, thinking of the consequences that might come if he does not comply with this request. Finally he lifts his head and says, “I understand. But let me think about this until sunset. I will call you when my answer is set.”

And with that Taichi gives a deep bow, crawls backwards to the door and leaves the room. Kazunari can hear the footsteps going further from the room.

“Are you going to say yes?” a voice asks from the corner of one room, “I am against that. I need water. And your country won't be strong if you have no yield of rice to feed everyone."

Kazunari turns around and see a man clad in green silk garments sitting cross-legged on his seat. Masaki is one of the gods of land. Rumors say that he is the eldest of land gods, but his attitude is very youthful, like the topsoil that refreshes itself everytime harvest comes to an end and farmers lay down agriculture waste. Only the way Masaki gives his name so easily indicates that he is not a lesser god. Unlike what people believe, human can only control god if he has stronger life energy, even if the human holds the god’s real name.

“Masaki, don’t startle me like that!” Kazunari turns around towards the voice.

Kazunari met Masaki when he was ten. It was the day after his father was beheaded. Ever since he was a child, Kazunari is able to see the lesser gods. He, of course, did not think that it is something special, since most members in his family family can see them too. But he had never seen the higher gods before and did not realize how good they are when they take on their human form.

Funeral for a beheaded priest is less grand than the one for one dies of normal cause, but it is grand for normal standard. The kings and other nobles visited the shrine to pay homage and extend their gratitude for the late priest, no matter how short he serves the land. For Kazunari’s father, it was almost nine years of servitude and it is quite long. But not only the nobles, gods too visit the funeral.

In normal funeral, people pay respect forming one line in the alley, but for a late head priest’s funeral, they draw three lines to pay homage. In the eyes of normal people, only two lines are seen to be used, the one on the left and the right, marked by carpet colored red as blood. For those who can see, just like the way the middle line in a shrine’s approach is meant for the gods, the middle line in a teru teru bozu’s funeral is also meant for gods. It is marked with red carpet with golden threads.

Kazunari noticed Masaki as the later entered the funeral hall and walk the middle alley almost at midnight in the last night of the wake. Most lesser gods - the only ones that Kazunari had met up to that day - do not look human. Even if they do, they are either too small or having a distinct mark like different skin color or animal body parts and by one look, Kazunari knows that they are not human. Masaki was different, he looked totally like human. That day he was dressed like a noble would, in black garment. The only thing that look out of place was the shiny green obi that he wore, since shiny materials are forbidden in funerals. Even the lesser gods came in modest and sombre colors.

“You are walking in the wrong line, Sir,” the ten years old Kazunari stood up from his seat by the coffin and held the man’s hem, “This line is meant for the gods.”

Masaki gave him a smile and was about to move to the red carpet when someone else stopped him.

“Can’t you see that he IS a god?” a deep voice came up behind and the startled Kazunari saw another man clad in sombre shade of red. His eyes too, has a tint of glowing red as he spoke, “Don’t be too nice to human, Kii, they have to learn their place.”

Kazunari drew his hand away from the hem as if it may burn him and he bowed deeply. “Please accept my apology, My Lord. I did not realize.”

The god with green belt knelt down to level his eyes with the boy, and only then that Kazunari saw a slight hint of deep green in the god's eyes. "Don't be so harsh on a human child, Sho, especially those who can see us without our grant," he said, "Kazunari, right? Don't be afraid. We are not angry. Come and show us where your father is, we are paying him homage for his servitude."

"My father served you too? I thought kannushi serves the king by taming the gods, because if one cannot answer to the king, he will be beheaded. Were you also not satisfied with my father that you let him be taken away?" Kazunari once learned that being a kannushi, means that one can master the gods and ask them to grant wishes.

"Kazunari, we are not the one to decide if one will live or not," the god called Kii answered softly, "we are also not ones to decide where human mind heads to. Even Wisdom has not power on human mind, for it is controlled by many."

"Kii, leave him alone. A shinsoku is not worthy to talk to us. A servant should not talk back,"  the other god, Sho, nudged Masaki on the shoulder, "Let's get going, I want to go to Jun's banquet."

"Jun is not coming?" Masaki was baffled.

"He will tomorrow, when the late Ninomiya-dono is cremated. Or maybe after." The god in red jumped over the god who was still sitting duck in front of the child and strutted towards the coffin.

"Come," Masaki extended his hand to the child and urged him to accompany him to the coffin. Kazunari complied and walked with Masaki.

At that time, Kazunari did not realize how Sho approved of him for staying within the red carpet boundary and not ever entering the golden one. He let night wind breezed and the bells started to sing a lament for the dead priest.

Now Kazunari knows that Kii's real name is Masaki, and Kii is the nickname he chose in order not to reveal his real one. Not that revealing his name would endanger him, he said. The other god he met that day, Sho; his real name is Kakeru, written in the character of wind and to soar. His nickname, Sho, is also taken from the last character of his name, like Masaki's. But unlike Masaki, he made point to make Kazunari only say his nickname unless it is really necessary.

"Are you going to say yes?" Masaki presses again.

"I am not sure," Kazunari stands up from the tatami and walks out of the inner chamber. Masaki follows him.

The passed by the inner sanctuary and Kazunari's eyes cannot help but linger on the stone for a while. In his lifetime, there has been three priests beheaded, although when a distant aunt who lead the shrine before his father was beheaded, he was nothing more than a year old.

Masaki stops too. His eyes darts towards the stone and back to the human. "Are you afraid to die, should Jun and Sho decide to let the rain fall on that week?"

"Maybe," comes the answer, "but dying is perhaps not as scary as I might think. My body can return to soil, to you."

"No, no, no," Masaki turns the human around, "indeed your flesh will return to me, but your mind will not be in peace for a hundred years. That's what happen to human spirit that separates from their body before shinigami puts judgement. I don't like this culture." He kicks the stone, and the stone moans in pain. "I'm sorry," Masaki says hurriedly, and the stone grew quiet, seeing that it was his lord who kicked.

"Masaki, they will not behead me, unless a war starts and we lose. Then the villagers will take my head for sure then, but it will be their right.”

"Then I can simply persuade Jun to move the clouds away from this kingdom, right? You will have your sunny day and both kingdoms are going to join in a glorious feast," a deep voice appears near them, and Kazunari knows that it is Sho from how the bells start to sing happily along with gentle breeze that always accompanies him.

"Then the land will dry, and they won't have food to live," Masaki argues.

"They can always buy from other countries. Right, Ninomiya-dono? And Kii, didn't I tell you many times already, that the matter of human is not really our problem." Sho adds again, "Tell me if you suffer from the drought if Jun decides that rain should not fall?"

Masaki shakes his head. "Indeed no. But the plants will live only to die without serving their purpose. I don't want...."

"Then rain will be fine, I assume," Sho comes closer to Kazunari and plays with his sleeves. "Only we might lose our current Ninomiya-dono, and we don't want that, right?" He bows down a little to the priest's ears and whispers, "The lords seems to behead so easily lately, am I not right? But your apprentices are not interesting. Don't die yet until you find someone worthy to take over your place."

It's true. Kazunari has three apprentices, but none of them seems to gain attention from any of the gods. One thing that he learns as he started to be the highest priest in the shrine, was that a priest has to pay for gods' help in controlling the weather, working the duties of a shinsoku, cleaning up places where gods reside and gives offerings. Gods are selfish creature, they ask for an extend of impossibles. Masaki is not hard to please, since farmers and villagers always work to please him, but Sho and Jun can be difficult, especially that they are the main gods of weather, one controlling the wind and the other the clouds.Old writings reveal horrid stories, and Kazunari sometimes cannot believe that the gods he talk to almost daily are capable of asking such things. Being a teru teru bozu means that he has to be on their good sides in order to make a bargain.

Kazunari steps backward and struts out of the building, "I'm going to see Satoshi."

"I'll be waiting for what you have to offer," Sho grins, but Kazunari refuses to turn around and see that.

"Sho, if he dies a normal death, you know we can have him forever," Masaki says as soon as Kazunari is out of sight.

Sho turns and look at the other god, "Believe me when I say, I at least want to have him longer. After all this time...."

Masaki gives him a smile in return, "I know Sho-sama does not hate our humble human." He is about to say something again, but the wind god disappears already along with a gust of wind that makes the bells ring.

Masaki sighs and he sinks into earth.

 

Kazunari takes the small stairs that leads down the hill towards the plantation area of the villagers. Satoshi likes to reside there, by the fields and human civilization. He told Kazunari once, that farming is the root of all human wisdom, for it is only after human settle down that they start to think higher and deeper. Some lesser gods call him Ohno - the big plantation - for it is where he resides because they feel they are unworthy to even say half the name of the god.

Satoshi is known to most people as Wisdom, albeit he is just a small piece of the Wisdom. He is a god of learning, close to human, yet he is more often just watching them from the side. Kazunari first met him when he was thirteen when he sneaked out from the shrine out of boredom when he just started to become one of the high priest's apprentice and it bored him for they kept on reciting the same prayers and poems. He was not allowed to try playing with the elements just because he was deemed too young despite he had already mastered to manipulate the elements.

It was at the same spot by the river when he first saw Satoshi. The god, was, as always, wearing commonner clothes, unlike other gods who wear their clothes in the manner of the nobles. Kazunari saw him releasing a fish that he just caught back into the river.

"Why are you releasing the fish? Are you not going to eat that?" Kazunari asked as he sat down by the fishing man.

"I have no use of him but to give me a little amusement," a voice rang inside Kazunari's head and he jumped back since he did not realize that the man was a god until he spoke. But the god gave him a reassuring smile and gestured him to scoot closer.

"And you, Kazu, why are you here?" The voice range again, "Are you not supposed to be studying in the shrine with the other apprentices?"

"It gets boring," was Kazunari's answer. You don't lie to higher gods, for they often have the ability to hear your mind. "We keep on reading the same things even if we don't understand the meaning. I think it's meaningless."

The god gave an understanding "Mmm" as he nodded.

"Can I stay here?" Kazunari asked.

"If you wish."

They sat in silence together. Satoshi with his fishing rod and Kazunari with his ayatori strings, playing cat’s cradle by himself.

"What can I call you?" asked Kazunari suddenly.

"You can call me Satoshi," said the man.

"Are you Wisdom that people are often talk about?"

"Ah, part of my name is written that way," and with the words came a ring of mirthful laugh, "You know your reading well."

"Why have I never seen you in the shrine? Aren't priests supposed to meet Wisdom too? Why I only see Sho and Kii?"

Another ring of laughter came again.

"What are you, young man? That Sho let you call them without honorifics?" He laughed again. "Nobody seeks me in the shrine. People seeks for me in schools, and there I go to visit. Nobody sees me there, though, but I do love watching people learn."

"If I seek for wisdom, will you come and give me a visit?"

"If you look for wisdom, you know where to find it,” came the answer.

"Here?" Kazunari looked up to the god.

"Not here," Satoshi then lifted his free hand and pointed at Kazunari, "but here. Go now. Your uncle is furious. Live up to your name, Kazu. Bring peace."

Ever since then, Kazunari always seek Satoshi whenever he can. The two will be sitting side by side by the river without words. Even if he consult his problem, most of the helps Kazunari gets are questions from the god; questions which somehow always lead him to his own conclusion. It is for that, Kazunari goes down the back stairs and look for the god.

"Satoshi," he calls as he finally finds a figure of man looking at ducks that are swimming in a nearby river. There is a makeshift fishing rod lying nearby.

"I've been expecting you, Kazu." The answer comes even though the figure by the river does not even turn around. His voice rings inside Kazunari's head instead. "Come and sit by me. The weather is perfect."

Kazunari obliges although he wants to object the weather statement, since for Satoshi, any weather is perfect, be it sunny and dry or wet and windy. Even long freezing winter will also be perfect. After all, gods have no preference of season nor weather, and they are not affected by bad weather. They do not catch cold. The current weather is, however, perfect for human standard. It is bright with small patches of clouds and the weather is warm.

Satoshi turns his head at Kazunari and smiles. His face hints that he understands Kazunari's thought but he makes no comment.

"The king wants seven days of sunny day for his princess' wedding," Kazunari says slowly as soon as he sits down. His right hand loosens a couple of strings from his left and he starts his game of ayatori, falling into the routine whenever he sits together with Satoshi. "I'm not sure if I should try persuading Jun and Sho to give sunny days. It's supposed to be rainy season."

The god only nodded absentmindedly as Kazunari speaks. His eyes following the swimming ducks with amusement.

"It's not like there will be a war if it rains.... Maybe...."

"The farmers will be happier with the rain," Satoshi says, echoing Kazunari's thought. He extends a hand towards the river and a small kappa comes out of the water, chasing the ducks away. "Right, Kappa-sama?"

"We love rain for rainy season, Ohno-sama, Ninomiya-dono." The kappa climbs up to Satoshi's lap and curls there, wettens the cloth and creating darker shades of blue on Satoshi's kimono.

"Hydrangea will dry out if the rain stops," Satoshi muses,one finger poking playfully at the kappa's round belly, "but human can give them water, don't you? Human changes nature to fit their needs. It is human nature." The god laughs lightly at his own use of words.

Kazunari looks up and scans the paddy fields. Just days ago the farmers put seedlings there. The paddy fields extend until the mountain range before them. Small rivers are snaking their ways down the rich valley. As long as these streams don't die, paddy fields won't die either.

He turns his face and beams at the god, "Satoshi-sama," he says, picturing clearly the two kanji that build the name, becoming wisdom, "what can I offer you as payment of my gratitude?"

Satoshi looks up from the giggling kappa. "Did I offer you help?"

Kazunari chuckled. He loves this god dearly for his softness and his absentmindedness, despite being the god of learning. "You have given me ideas." He put his ayatori strings back around his wrist and moved himself into seiza position, facing the god of wisdom. "Even if you say you did not intend to do so, Satoshi-sama, you have given me assistance."

The god smiles softly and an answer rings in Kazunari's head, "Live longer, Kazu, and make peace," and Kazunari understands. It is during peaceful times that art and culture flourish.

"I will," the high priest answers with determination. His eyes glint with childlike amusement that makes him look years younger than his actual age. "But Satoshi," he calls the god endearly, throwing away the honorifics again, "your demand is perhaps the most difficult to keep. I will never know when they put down their judgement on me."

Satoshi smiles understandingly. He has seen high priests beheaded for reasons unrelated to weather control. Kazunari's great aunt was one. She was beheaded only a couple of months after she took up the family. Ladies of the courts dislike her for being too close to the nobles.

"I have to find Jun and come back before sun down." He stands up and pats his white kariginu. Jun dislikes people who have small respect towards clothes. Turning up with dirty clothes is uncalled for.

"Oh, Jun-sama," Satoshi's face lights up at the mention of the god of cloud and mist, "Does he still keep clouds as pet?"

"Yes."

"Pet Sekiran for me, Kazunari-dono."

Sekiran is one of Jun's cloud pets. It is a miniature cumulonimbus that likes to hit everything with lightning and Kazunari is not very fond of touching it, but the way Satoshi use his name, means it is a request to be fulfilled.

"I'll try."

And with that he runs towards the forest where the old pine tree stands with his grace, adorned by bold shimenawa.

 

Jun never came to Kazunari's father's funeral in human form. He came in the form of light rain during the cremation. Jun stays away from human and demands ridiculous paybacks if he were asked to alter the rain according to the writings, at least; from rare jewels, spices from across the oceans, to fine silk. He, however, knows all the gods and spirits in the area and often throws a banquet. He is the reason why the sake barrels is always empty by the time the new batch comes.

It was the reason why Kazunari never met Jun until the day he was decided to be the heir of Ninomiya Shrine, fourteen years ago. It was seven days after the death of his uncle, the previous leader of Ninomiya Shrine, when all the high priests from the country gathered in Ninomiya Shrine to see who would be chosen by the gods to manage the weather of their country. The nobles and countrymen alike came to watch the ceremony.

Kazunari was in a hurry tidying up his jo-e while half running from the main house towards the shrine ground. It was then when he saw a shape of fluffy grey stuck in the hands of a willow kodama by the fish pond. The fluffy grey matter squiggles and let out small lightnings from its body, but the kodama refused to untangle and wrapped it even harder. The willow started to singe and a bit of its dangling leaves had started to catch fire.

Kazunari stopped short and rushed towards the kodama and reached out both of his hands, "Youryuu-sama," he called the willow dearly, "let go of the ..." He stopped, unsure of what kind of youkai that the kodama had caught, "let go of that poor thing. Don't hurt both of you further. You are starting to burn," he continued as he concentrated on projecting his will to help towards the kodama. The kodama knew him well, for all the priests and apprentices in the shrine have to care for the gardens.

"Kazunari-dono," said the kodama, "it is trying to attack me, that's why I have to give it a lesson."

Kazunari stepped closer. He put out the fire from the kodama using the sleeves of his robe. It singed a little and turned greyish black. "But no need to destroy the place you reside, am I not right, Youryuu-sama? Let me have the ...," he paused again until he suddenly realized what the thing was, "cloud. I promise it won't hurt you anymore." He reached up to take fluffy gray matter and felt jolt of lightning in his vein. It made him giddy but he preserved on until the kodama loosened its grip and the cloud fell into his hands. The cloud had round black eyes and lines of silver that gave out electric jolts. It curled into Kazunari's embrace like a puppy.

It felt strange to cradle a cloud, since it was almost weightless and he could actually let his fingers through it, but it was there and he could hold it up with his fingers if he concentrated enough.

"Are you lost?" He asked the cloud that looked back at him with its two round eyes. It wiggled and gave out gentle buzz of electricity as its answer. Kazunari looked at the cloud with wonder. He had never seen such youkai before.

A sudden toll of bell that marked the coming of the king and the nobles rang in the air and Kazunari suddenly remembered that he was almost late for a very important ceremony. That day the high priests will appoint the new teru teru bozu, and he was one of the candidates.

He looked at the cloud and pulled it into his hold, "I'll ask around later. I believe Masaki might know who you are." And the cloud gave a happy wiggle inside his embrace.

When he arrived at the main building of the shrine, people have already filled the front open space. A small stage stood in the middle and he could see the other apprentices, Toma, Shunsuke, and Kimitaka already standing there. The seven high priests of the other prominent shrines, the elders of the country, were there too.

"Kazunari," he heard his mother scold from the side, she stood among the ladies of the shrine, "they're waiting for you. Go! Oh, why you're so dirty?" But she pushed her son to the stage anyway, a bit surprised that her son was sweating profusely despite the coming winter. As they reached the stage, Kazunari's mother bowed deeply to the high priests and the king and pushed her son up. "You'll do what you need to do," she whispered softly to her son.

Kazunari looked at her as he stepped up the stage. His mother was a strong woman, he thought, her husband, Kazunari's father died serving as teru teru bozu, and now her only son might be serving as one as well.

"Kazunari, are you not aware that this is no time to play with dirt?" Higashiyama, the high court priest pointed at his arms. His sleeves were all grey from soot and it sagged a little from being wet.

Kazunari looked up to the man, "Higashiyama-sama, I found this cloud being caught by the willow kodama at the pond. It might be lost and looking for its master," he lifted the cloud up to the older man.

The elder raised an eyebrow to Kazunari and was about to ask something when a shadow suddenly appeared beside the elder and a hand reached down towards to cloud.

"Ransō, I've been looking for you," the shadow said, and Kazunari saw a very beautiful man, dressed in silver and purple. His hair went down to reach his broad shoulders and his eyes had piercing glint of purple.

"It was caught by the kodama near the pond," Kazunari said, extending the cloud to the god.

People started to murmur. The priests stood back, although they were looking at each other with confused look. At that time Kazunari did not realize that he was the only one who could see Jun and the cloud.

The god looked at Kazunari and gave him a smile. "It says thank you," he said, but he raised his thick eyebrows disapprovingly when he noticed the dress robe Kazunari was wearing. "Your clothes is dirty," he said again then turning to the small cloud, "did you stain his clothes? That won't do. Bad boy!" He flicked at the middle of the cloud's eyes. "We should clean him."

He flicked his hands and steam came out of his fingers. The steam wrapped the Kazunari's sleeves and fell down to the ground with the soots.

The moment Kazunari's robe became pure white again was the moment the elders decided that he was the chosen one, and the ceremony did not even start yet. By the time Jun went away from the stage, the elders had bowed down to Kazunari followed by the rest of the court. Teru teru bozu was chosen.

 

Jun's residing place is in the middle of the ancient forest. Normal people stay away from it and even most priests would rather be outside its proximity. Kazunari too does not go to the forest unless it is necessary. More often than not, Jun is the one visiting him, because his cloud pets seem to like Kazunari and often come to play with the priest.

"It's Kazunari-dono!" some forest spirits said as they see him walking the path that is almost non-existent. "There will be a change in weather," they also say, because Kazunari only bothers coming to the forest if there is a request to make. Some who do not like human grumble as they walk away from the priest.

“Jun?” Kazunari said as he reaches the pine tree. It is the tallest tree in the forest. Tallest and most graceful. Slowly he traces along the shimenawa that wraps around the trunk. "Jun-sama?"

He waits for more, and when nobody appears, he calls again using Jun's real name. "Mitsuyoshi-sama?"

It is not Jun who appears in front of Kazunari, though, but a thin layer of mist that comes down from the top of the tree. "Kazu!" it squeals and wraps the priest. It is followed by a fluffy gray cloud that gives out a buzz of lightning jolt when it falls on Kazunari's head.

"Sō! Ransō!" He pets both the clouds and asks them, "where is your master?"

"I don't understand why they like you so much," comes a voice behind Kazunari. A set of long and manly fingers settles on Kazunari's shoulder.

"Jun," Kazunari turns around and faces the cloud god who picks up his two pets away.

The god snuggles into the clouds, "Why are you choosing this mortal instead of your own creator?" He pouts.

Kazunari giggles as he extends a hand towards the clouds. "There, you hear your master," he says while poking the two slowly on their supposed head, "he's jealous. A jealous Jun is not a good sign."

"What do you want, Kazu?" Jun sits down on a big stone, playing with the two clouds. The mini nimbostratus, Ransō strikes him with small lightnings and the thin layer of stratus cloud wraps him like a floating scarf. A third cloud suddenly falls from the sky, it is in a darker shade of grey than Ransō at the bottom, bluish white at the top and strikes with bigger lightning too. "You're back!" Jun brightens up to see his favorite pet, the cumulonimbus, Sekiran.

"I come to ask you a favor," Kazunari says. He steps closer to where Jun is sitting and kneel down to keep the god be in higher position than him.

Jun scoffed, "you only come here when you are asking for favor."

"I come here to prune and clean the forest," Kazunari protests, "and pour sake on the sacred grounds and renew your shimenawa yearly."

Sekiran sneaks out of Jun's lap and jumps to Kazunari's lap. The priest almost yelp due to sudden shock of electricity that strikes him.

Jun laughs a hearty laughter as he sees the change of expression on Kazunari's face and how the priest pets the cumulonimbus gingerly and half urging it to go back to its master.

"What is it that you need?" Jun asks as his laugh dies down, he seems to be in a very good mood, "But I might ask you to become my slave if it's too much against nature."

"Am I not already your servant as a shinsoku?"

"Cheeky!" Jun says and the cumulonimbus in Kazunari's hand rings with thunder. "What is it?"

"Mitsuyoshi-sama," Kazunari changes his tone to seriousness and put stresses of command as he mentions Jun's real name, "let's plan a party." His lips breaks into a grin while he explains his requests.

 

When Kazunari reaches the shrine again, the sun has just gone through the horizon and the sky has turned dark on the east. Taichi is pacing in the courtyard by one of the stone lamps. Masaki is there, mimicking the way Taichi paces in a rather comical way.

"Excuse me for being late, Taichi-sama," he says as he tries to catch his breath from running up the backstairs from the forest. He is also rather drunk since Jun asked him to have a couple of mature sake with him.

"So? Are we going to have the sunny days for the wedding?" Taichi stops from his pacing and Masaki bumps on him, although Taichi does not even realize it.

"Yes ... and no."

Taichi raises an eyebrow, demanding for more information, but Kazunari dismisses him.

"I will explain it straightly to the king. Make me an appointment with him in a week. But before that, please tell Joshima-sama that I plan to visit him to discuss about the wedding tomorrow morning. And send a letter to Akihide-sama of Uranami Shrine from eastern kingdom that I am to visit him in three day's time about the wedding as well. If I am not mistaken, he is a scholar of people's culture, am I not right?"

"I am not your messenger, Ninomiya-sama," Taichi complains.

"Just go and do as I say, Taichi-sama. I have no strong horse and soldier for that, but you do," Kazunari beams a smile, "We are planning a big party with the gods."

"With the gods? Does that mean I can join too?" Masaki jumps in eagerly next to Taichi, despite the minister cannot see him.

"Yes, Kii, and Sho too, and maybe Satoshi too. Jun already said yes to me," Kazunari answers with delight.

Taichi steps away from the empty place to which Kazunari is looking fondly. He is still not used to it even though he has seen the human teru teru bozu talks to nothing - supposedly to some unseen spirits - many times already. Not all priests can see spirits. Only strongest ones can, and most of them refrain from showing it in front of normal people, keeping the god's world and human world separated and them acting as the bridge. But the stance of the head priest of Ninomiya Shrine is rather different, he often regards the gods and spirits like old friends, getting rid of the honorifics and talk to them in front of normal people to remind them how the spirits too coexist in the same world as human.

"Fine then, I'll do as you say," Taichi says finally.

"Thank you, Taichi-sama," Kazunari pats a hand on Taichi's shoulder, "I'm counting on you." Then he turns to where Masaki is standing, "Come, Kii, we have to prepare for our travel for the eastern kingdom."

 

Kazunari takes his horse to ride to the Joshima Shrine, the country’s imperial shrine which is located within the palace ground. Of all the eight main shrines of the kingdom, only Joshima Shrine is located in the city. All the others, including Ninomiya Shrine, are in the countryside or within the mountains. The palace ground is a man-made island with two deep and wide moats around its periphery. The country is small, but the castle itself is a grand stronghold.

Masaki is following Kazunari, floating at his side, and greetings any spirits they meet on the way. Kazunari knows that Masaki comes with him because he wants to see Aya, one of the court ladies that also serves as miko in Joshima Shrine, rather than helping him with his idea. For the wedding plan, Kazunari would rather have Jun or Sho to help him, but both of them are not very fond of being near human, so they refuse to go.

Satoshi might be around in the school nearby the palace, but he is more or less useless for planning, actually. He will just stare into space and listen quietly, rather than giving advices.

The head priest of Joshima Shrine is already waiting when they arrive. The shrine is run by his family and the position of head priest is inherited through generations. Only the Ninomiya Shrine has a particular ceremony to choose a new leader, albeit most of the candidates are from the same household. After all, all shrines are related to the nobles.

"Ninomiya-sama," the head priest greets. His name is Shigeru, but as common within the custom of the kingdom, head priest of a shrine is called by the name of the shrine respectively. "You should have asked me to send you a palanquin to pick you up so you don't need to ride by yourself."

Kazunari dismisses it, saying that he likes riding horse better. The first time he travelled on palanquin made him feel sick the whole journey that from then on he always rides himself to travel, not that he travels much anyway.

"I need to discuss with you about the royal wedding, Joshima-sama," he says as he gives the horse to one of the lower priests from the shrine.

If there is something that makes Ninomiya Shrine different from the rest of the other shrines, is that it does not perform human life rituals aside from funeral of its own family members. No human ever have their wedding blessed in that shrine. The shrine itself is considered as a place to keep the human teru teru bozu. That is the reason why Kazunari does not feel confident about his knowledge on wedding ceremony, especially the royal one and feels the need to consult with the expert. The Joshima Shrine serves their service to the palace for all the religious ceremonies, he should understand about weddings.

Shigeru leads his guest to his chamber. Masaki follows them, nudging Kazunari on the side, "Can you ask if Lady Aya is around?"

"Is Lady Aya around?" Kazunari asks the other head priest, "one of the elemental gods is rather fond of her and would like to see if she is around."

The Joshima head thought a while, "I think she is currently helping the princess choosing fabrics for the wedding," he says, "This wedding is such a rush. It must be hard on you that the king demands seven days of sunny day in the rainy season. I sometimes think that being a teru teru bozu is very hard.... Ah, or we can all visit the princess and talk to her about the wedding? That would be better, wouldn't it? Then you can help the elemental god to talk to the lady." Shigeru gestures Kazunari and the other guest who is unseen to his eyes the way to the palace.

They walk the long corridors into the ladies' chambers. Princess Keiko is in the main pavilion with several other ladies, choosing over choices of fabrics.

"Good afternoon," Shigeru calls, "Please excuse these gentlemen to pay a visit." He motions towards Kazunari, "Ninomiya-sama would like to consult about the wedding ceremony, and I believe we can all talk together."

The ladies let them enter the pavilion and sit together with them. Kazunari ask about the details of the royal wedding, the timing, and how many hours are needed for each part of ceremonies. He does not clarify his plans, but assures them that there is nothing to worry about rain, he assures that the palace will stay dry the whole seven days. At least Jun promised so. At times Masaki throws random question towards Aya, which Kazunari extends, obtaining weird glances from the court ladies.

By the time Kazunari leaves the palace to head for the eastern kingdom to visit Uranami Shrine, half of the court ladies believe that Kazunari is interested in Aya and has used the god as an excuse to talk to the miko. After all, they whisper that the teru teru bozu has reached thirty, it's already about time for him to wed and have children.

Kazunari just laughs when Masaki mentions that, because he has no intention to marry. He does not want to leave his family the way his father did. No matter how noble people say of a teru teru bozu's beheading, it is still a sign of failure in fulfilling a duty.

 

They ride straight towards Uranami Shrine, Kazunari on his horse and Masaki floating on his side. Along the way, a man in dark blue commoner's clothes asks if he can come along and hops behind Kazunari. The priest laughs and ask if Satoshi can be seen by other people. The god laughs along and answers that, no he cannot be seen by normal people and he also does not put his weight on the horse so Kazunari can still ride as fast as he wants.

When they stop at a lonely inn in the mountain road that leads to the western kingdom, the young man at the inn asks if he would like to have a room for three instead of a room for one as Kazunari has asked.

"Aren't you going to share room with the two gentlemen there, Sir? Or would you like to have three separate rooms?" the innkeeper asks, gesturing to Satoshi who is still petting the horse and Masaki who starts talking to the big trees.

"You can see them?" Kazunari asks back, surprised because he knows that the gods are not giving away themselves.

Another young man hurries out from the inn and gives a deep bow. The one who just came out has light brown hair and white skin unlike the other man who is rather dark skinned and dark haired. The light haired man also wears clothes that looks more like noble with yellow and white silk.

"Kitsune?" Kazunari speaks his surprise. He has never seen one because kitsune usually live in the deep of mountain forests, not really the place where he intends to go.

"Please don't mind my half brother. He never learns to differ human from god," the tanuki jumps down and comes to the two gods, "My Lord," he says, "please stay in our house tonight. We will  provide a feast tonight."

The inn has two parts, the front part, a small building with several rooms that look modest and is taken care of by the half kitsune, whom later is introduced as Shigeaki. It caters human travellers. The second part, placed a little behind bamboo groves, is a grand building lightened up with bluish fox fire. There the three travellers stays for the night.

The kitsune's name is Keiichiro. Keiichiro is older by thirty nine years compared to Shigeaki, but apparently the half-kitsune looks older. Keiichiro's father married Shigeaki's late mother. Kazunari has heard of tales about kitsune taking female form and seduces men to sleep with them, but this is the first time he hears of a male kitsune marrying a female human.

"Our father is just a common fox, we are not really from the foxes of Inari," Keiichiro says when asked where the father is, "he probably finds another spouse somewhere and stay." He waves his three tails as if he is bored, while Shigeaki is preparing dinner for the guests.

"I hope he transform into a woman this time and marry a man," Shigeaki scoffs, "I don't want him to bring another child."

"You have other siblings?" Masaki asks as he digs in the soup and grilled fish.

"Countless," Keiichiro scoffs, "if I count from both my father and mother. They both like to sleep around."

"But he's the only pure kitsune child," Shigeaki smiles towards his half brother, "but kitsune are loyal being, once they find someone, they will stay together until the partner dies. We have two younger brothers, I mean who is like me, blessed with kitsune traits, but they both like to travel rather than staying in this inn."

Satoshi smiles at that notion. Most of half kitsune obtains normal human lifespan, because kitsune traits are weak against human trait. But at rare times, when a kitsune marries a kitsune descendant, someone like Shigeaki might be born. Shigeaki probably does not have tanuki lifespan, but considering the two's age difference and how Keiichiro has three tails, he must have been around 300 years old.

Kitsune can change into any human shape regardless of gender and sex. It is not uncommon to see a male kitsune transferring into a woman and wed a male human. Kitsune are lonely creatures and they like the caress from human. Kitsune only marry another kitsune to continue their family line. Nothing else. Their love will be for the human they wed.

"You are the teru teru bozu, right?" asks Keiichiro as Shigeaki sits down next to him.

"Yes," Kazunari answers, "do you have a request?"

Keiichiro is about to say something, but Shigeaki pulls his tail to stop him.

"What's wrong with you?" Keiichiro snaps, shoving his brother aside, "just when we have teru teru bozu-sama with us tonight."

Satoshi smiles knowingly and says to Kazunari, "can you make sunshower for them? It seems there has not been sunshower in this region for hundreds of years."

Masaki claps his hands. "Congratulations!" He raises his sake cup. "You have to say yes, Kazu."

"Sunshower? But why...? Oh!" Kazunari realized. Kitsune can only perform wedding when there is sunshower. "Of course, but it will have to wait." He lifts up his cup and congratulates the two.

Keiichiro beams his thank you while Shigeaki turns his face away to hide his blush.

 

"Jun and Sho will ask a lot from me later," Kazunari says when dinner is finished and the three are lying down in their futon for the night. "Sunshower in the mountains."

"Don't worry, Jun and Sho are fond of you. They probably will just ask for extra services from you," Masaki adds, "They will treat you kindly."

"How come you never asks for payment?" Kazunari asks half asleep to the god next to him.

"I will be happy if you can die from old age. That will be my payment," Masaki smiles even though he knows that Kazunari cannot see him. "Sleep now, you have a long day tomorrow."

"Do gods sleep too?" Kazunari's voice has become a murmur heavy with sleep.

"We sleep if we want to."

Masaki watches the kannushi sleeping. "Live long and die from old age, Kazu, then you'll be with us forever."

 

They ride again in the morning, saying goodbye to the two brothers. It takes one whole day to reach Urakami Shrine. The shrine is located at a cliff, overlooking to both the sea and the capital city of the big eastern kingdom. It is one of the main shrines of the country where scholars gather local folklores and traditions. In short, it is the country's center for knowledge.

When they arrive, it is already late and a young priest is waiting with a lantern in hand by the entrance.

"Ninomiya-sama," the priest bows, "We have been waiting for you."

He takes them to a small building at the outskirt of the shrine. "You can stay here tonight, Akihide-sama will see you in the morning."

That night Kazunari sleeps alone. Masaki and Satoshi travel the surrounding forests and visit the local gods. They must be drinking sweet sake somewhere.

By the time they return to Kazunari, the sun has come up. The priest is putting on his kariginu as the two slid into the door. “You two seem to enjoy yourselves last night,” the priest greets the two.

“We did!” Satoshi gives out his grin, “The gods here are super awesome!” He puts a small sake flask on the table, “Here, a little souvenir from our host, the god of music. It’s really sweet, you should drink it.”

Kazunari takes the ceramic flask and looks at it. “This should be a good one,” he says and put it away to his bag, “Can I just drink it later when we’re back at home. We can invite Jun and Sho and drink. Just the five of us.”

“I should have brought back more, then,” Satoshi says.

Masaki plops himself in Kazunari’s mattress. “It’s warm here,” he snuggles into the the futon.

“Come,” Kazunari says, dragging the god. “We have to learn about local customs about rain and weddings. It’s a special request from Jun-sama.”

A tall young man comes to pick them up and brings them to one of the chambers of the shrine when a man with small stature is sitting in at a table, writing something on a scroll. He raises his head  as the tall young man enters and let the guests in.

"Thank you, Makoto-sama," he says in very polite and calm tone. He stands up and sits down in front of his table and bows down to the guests, "Ninomiya-sama, welcome to our humble shrine," he says, "it is our pleasure to have the famous teru teru bozu from Koirie."

Kazunari goes down and return the bow, "The pleasure is ours. Thank you for sparing your time to meet us, Akihide-sama." Masaki and Satoshi follow suit and give their respect.

"Us?" The priest before them ask back, then he hums his understanding, "Please excuse me, I am not blessed with such ability. I hope I did not offend any of your friends."

"Not at all," Kazunari replies, the gods are not showing themselves. He sits straighter and asks about the customs of wedding in that country. "For us," he says, "Rain is not a problem for weddings, it is considered a blessing when we have light showers. Would you explain more of what is believed here?"

"As expected from a teru teru bozu," Akihide praises, "you are going to care of the weather for the wedding, if I take correctly." He stands up and walk towards the corner of the room where books and scrolls are put. He takes several old scrolls and comes back to where the Ninomiya priest sits.

"Our royal family worships Inari. We believe that kitsune no yome ire is a blessing if that ever happens at the end of a ceremony," he explains as he opens the scrolls and shows it to Kazunari. "Nowadays people just say that any rain is not good, but the teachings say different. Isn’t it interesting to see how people’s believe changes through the flows of time?" The priest traces the words written on the scroll.

"Will it be hard to convince your king on that matter? For one, I cannot stop all rain without providing disasters to other places, the balance should be kept as it is, since it will be rainy season."

"I will try my best for that matter, although...." The priest from Uranami Shrine looks uncertain. "If we can convince the prince, perhaps it will be easier to convince the king." He stands up again and goes to the door, asking for one of other priest in the adjoining room to call the prince in. Apparently, the prince is staying over in the shrine ground.

The prince has a bright personality, rather easily excitable, and is a natural airhead, but very lovable in a way. He reminds Kazunari of Masaki as the two has similar way of talking. His name is Daigo, second son of the king, currently leads his own troops and owns the western side of the great eastern kingdom, which is directly located next to the kingdom where Kazunari comes from, Koirie.

"My pleasure to meet the famous teru teru bozu," he says, polite, but in a very bubbly tone, like he has been waiting a hundred years just to meet the weathermaster. "I heard tales about you. Can you really see gods and other things?" And straightforward.

Kazunari is a little taken aback, but he say yes anyway.

"Daigo-sama, let's not talk about that," the Uranami priest stops him. Giving a slight bow towards Kazunari.

The prince grins. "I heard about you so much from Princess Keiko."

"You know her?" Kazunari is surprised that he blurts in casual language. He thought the engagement was political and the two had never met before.

The two men in front of Kazunari laugh.

The tension seems to evaporate from then on. Prince Daigo has met the princess when she was in early teens. He was almost eighteen then, already leading a small troop of his own and already taking position as his father's official representative. He met her when he brought a letter to Kazunari's king.

"Princess Keiko was dancing in a ceremony. She was so beautiful, I mean, she is even more beautiful now," he tells the story excitedly, "But she was like a deity coming down from the sky. And I asked if I could meet her, but people denied it, because she was still pure."   

In Koirie, noble women who have not yet reached puberty serve as miko in the inner chamber and not let to meet with males outside members of the noble families and the priests. Once they have their menstruation, they will be permitted to mingle with other people.

"So he actually broke in by pretending to be a woman to meet her," Akihide explains, "I hope you don't consider that an offense. He practically breaks your country's law."

"I like him," Masaki nudges Kazunari on the side, smiling fondly at the prince, "I'm blessing their wedding."

Satoshi nods, "people who are different from others will move the world."

"At least the gods here don't mind about it," Kazunari says, "they are blessing your marriage."

Daigo's eyes light up, "Thank you." He really shows his fondness of the princess as he tells how the two secretly exchanged letters and poems throughout the first year that they know each other. They openly introduced to one another a few months after her first menstruation and correspond openly. Originally, the princess was engaged to someone else within the royal family. But wars broke in the southern part of the island and creeping up quite fast. Assurance for allies broke the engagement, and she is to wed Daigo instead.

"I'm so glad that I can marry her," he says straightforwardly, "I mean, as much as I hate the war and I dread it will come here and changes our lives, I have to say I am happy that the war brings her to me."

Akihide slaps him on the thigh to remind him of his words but Kazunari gestures that it is alright since they are talking in closed doors and there is no other human around to witness them.

"Then, Daigo-sama," Kazunari asks the prince, "Will you make her happy and try to defend your marriage and her country even if your wedding is not blessed by perfectly sunny weather?"

The prince turns to his priest, who gives a slight nod.

"Yes. I will try my best."

"I promise for good weather around the palace," Kazunari continues, "But the mountains, the fields, and the villages will have the rain as normal rainy season would. It means the people of your kingdom might have to come during the heaviest downpours. Will you convince your father, the king, and your whole families and nobles that it is not due to impoliteness that I do not stop the rain?"

"I will," the prince promises. “But why you go all this?”

"My Lord," Kazunari answers, voice filled with dignity and pride, "I am kannushi who masters the gods and ask them to control the weather, my responsibility lies to make sure the country, both my king and his people to live in prosper and peace. Yet, I am also shinshoku who serve the gods to keep nature flourish the way they see fit. You have to understand, My Lord, that if you take away the rain from one place, it has to go to another. If I give you seven days of sunny day, then some other places might have to suffer heavy downpours and landslides. Let us not make our own happiness be standing on other people's suffering. It is as simple as that."

"It is also his life, you are betting, Daigo-sama," Akihide added, "Shall he fail on either helping the country gain their military support for the upcoming war, keeping the people fed from their yield, or preventing calamities, he will be beheaded. It is the life of a teru teru bozu."

"But you cannot control everything, right?” the prince continues, “We might have done everything we can and it can still fail. Why putting everything...."

Kazunari holds up his hand to stop Daigo. He knows what the prince was going to say and he fears it will destroy his resolve as a teru teru bozu. Why putting everything on a teru teru bozu? Surely he is only someone who extends prayers to gods. Nothing more, nothing less. And the way of the skies is one that is curious and unpredictable.

"Kazunari," Satoshi calls him, breaking the kannushi's thought, "Don't fear anything that is yet to come. Face only those before your eyes." He moves closer to the priest and sneaks a hand to hold him.

"Daigo-sama," Kazunari speaks again after a long pause, "I have accepted my life as it is written and as a journey to travel. If I shall be beheaded in the end, it is a fate I cannot escape, but I do my best to keep my head attached to myself." He bows down and continues, "Please accept my service as your teru teru bozu."

“Please excuse my rudeness,” Daigo bows in return. "Please accept my gratitude and my service."

 

"So," Jun ask the priest the night he comes back to his shrine, "did your travel give anything... fruitful? I mean aside from these bottles."

Jun visits out of Satoshi's invitation to have a small drinking party in the inner chamber of the Ninomiya Shrine. They brought back sweet sake from the neighboring country, along with a flask of very fine liquor and a bottle of kitsune wine. It is a small party with only him, Sho, Masaki, Satoshi, and Kazunari. As usual, the human drinks only a little and Jun feels the urge to make him drink more.

"I think so," the priest answers. He is sitting crosslegged on tatami and absentmindedly playing with Jun's cloud pet, Ransō. "My back hurts from riding the horse for hours, though." He complains as he stretches and shifts his position to make himself comfortable, "I don't like travelling."

"I am not sorry that I cannot understand your experience," Jun says again, pouring more kitsune wine into Kazunari's cup. The priest is already rather drunk since the alcohol is high. He can handle alcohol quite well, but compared to the four gods, he is nothing.

"Jun, ah, and Sho too," the priest says, "I will need a lot of your help to move clouds and rain. Will you bear with me? It is for seven days."

The god of wind floats and moves closer to him. "That depends on your ability to contain both of us in you. Will you manage for seven days?"

"Seven days," Kazunari explains, "Not seven days and seven nights. I will have enough rest at night. I'll be fine, Sho. And Masaki will join us too."

"I still demand a price, though," Jun talks after a moment of thought, "attend my banquet for seven nights in a row when the wedding is finished. You have never come."

"And can I have some of your bells by the pond?" Sho asks, "I love their sound."

Kazunari smiles as he yawns and lies down on the floor, the cloud on top of his stomach, curled as if ready to sleep. "You can choose the ones you like, Sho, and I will put them at your home." Then he looks at Jun with glazy eyes from alcohol and sleep, "You should have asked and invite me personally rather than telling the forest spirits to fetch me, and come here more often without using your clouds as your excuse. I know you control them, Jun, they are not purely independent beings."

"You know, I sometimes hate your ability to observe," Jun smacks the priest on the head. "Please come to my banquet, Kazunari," he lies down next to the priest, "and we can lie down on the soft forest moss and looking at stars getting drunk, rather that looking at wooden ceiling like this."

"He's already asleep," says Masaki who flops down and lies next to Jun. The other two gods lies down too and the four continue to drink.

Jun snaps his fingers and the fluffy cloud on Kazunari's stomach flattens down and forms a blanket over the priest.

 

They have approximately two and a half weeks to prepare for the party. The next day after the three comes back, Kazunari goes to see the king to explain his term and conditions to control the weather. It is not common for teru teru bozu to settle agreement with the person who requests his special services. Teru teru bozu is supposed to have no voice, it is to stand on its place and pray to gods for good weather.

"But Kazunari of the Ninomiya Shrine is human," Satoshi reminded him when the priest celebrated his coming of age, "And human thinks, reasons, and makes judgements on what is right or wrong. You are human, Kazu, never forget that above your duty as a teru teru bozu."

Then the priest goes out again to the mountains with Masaki, Sho, and Jun to observe the grounds and the rivers. It takes as much to learn the shaping of lands to plan where they will let rain and where they will let dry. Satoshi tags along although he is not much of help in the process.

A week before the wedding, the whole country start to prepare for celebration. Towns and villages decorate themselves with colorful banners. Guests from allied kingdoms start pouring into the capital. Only in Ninomiya shrine that all colors are put down and white color of purity is raised up. A ring is created by piles of rocks in the middle of the shrine ground.

Kazunari goes to the springs in the mountain to purify himself for three days. He has done weather control before, but all of them are small in scale, moving the clouds a little or letting the wind helps carry humidity from the sea into the land during the driest season, neither of them requires preparation since he will just borrow power of one god at a time for a short period. But what he is going to do with Jun, Sho, and Masaki is a little stretching their limitations. The three suggest purification to increase their synchronicity with the human. And when he comes back, he is adorned in white and can only eat rice, white radish, and white fish for the rest of the week.  

Then the ceremony begins.

On the first day of the wedding, Kazunari steps into the ring. Jun, Masaki, and Sho join him and merge into him. The bells of Ninomiya Shrine ring and the clouds in the sky start to move. They open up to make a patches of holes to let the sun able to shine through and spread out to the mountains where they fall down in gentle rain and the ground guide its water into the rivers and into the irrigation system, keeping the newly planted rice have sufficient water to grow despite no rain in the valleys of Koirie.

Kazunari looks around him with marvel. The world looks different, seen from the eyes of gods. All the colors are more vivid and distinct, all the spirits in every stone and trees are visible. The sounds of bells are louder than usual but still he can hear each and every conversation that the wind passes very clearly. Even each droplet of water vibrates as they come to earth and sink into the ground. Everything that enters his perception is strong that it is almost unbearable.

Shunsuke and Toma, the other two priest of the shrine with the younger apprentices and the shrine ladies stand behind, watching as the gods' power unfold before their eyes. In their timeline, no teru teru bozu has performed this ritual of merging with the gods. Satoshi watch over the circle together with them.

When the sun goes down, Jun ask the clouds to spread evenly over the valley and give out light showers. The sun shine still visible as the sky turns bright red followed by dark purple. Masaki is the first to step out of the ring, looking rather tired and submerges himself into the ground without words. Sho follows, and he disappears with the last burst of wind that rings the bell and everything grows quiet except for the soft sound of pouring rain.

"I will see you tomorrow morning. Rest well tonight," Jun bids the vessel goodnight and evaporates to the sky, leaving Kazunari who suddenly feels deafening silence in his ears and whole world suddenly feels darker. Even though he still sees his way out of the circle and hears Toma as the younger priest catches him from falling, nothing makes sense. His human senses feel numb and muted in comparison to the senses of gods he felt throughout the day and he feels spent.

"You did well today," Satoshi's words enter his head, and it rings clearest among other senses, "Rest now, you have a long day tomorrow."

 

They repeated the ritual for six more days with each day the divine senses feel heavier and heavier for Kazunari. By the seventh day he sometimes feel like he wants to run away from the circle and pulls out the other three gods from himself, but the gods hold him steady.

"Just a little more, Kazunari," they will say and the meaning of his name reverberates within the circle. It is a command and prayer entwined, and he stays with them.

It is not easy either for the gods to share one vessel among them. But Kazunari's nature is accommodating others and he'd change his bringing to fit others, that they can interchangeably let out their powers with ease. Sho guides the clouds to specific places that they decided before, different places by day, Jun calling the rain to fall and holds its intensity, and in turn Masaki guides the water and fortifies the land from falling where there is downpour.

"Kazunari," a voice penetrates their workflow later in the afternoon of the last wedding ceremony. It is Satoshi. "Remember your promise to the kitsune."

And Kazunari ask Sho and Jun to lessen the rain towards the eastern mountains, creating gentle curtain of shower. As the sun goes down, two arcs appears in the sky. The bridge of the gods is opened, and Kazunari sees deities and gods alike flowing into the kingdom to join the feast in the castle. He sees also the smiles of people looking at the rainbow as Sho blows wind to spread the clouds, among them the nobles of two kingdoms and two kitsune in the eastern mountain.

With the sun setting, the gods and deities flies back into the heavens and the rainbows fanish. The sky darkened and the noise from the valleys die down, taken over by songs of frogs who thank the gods for giving them rain. The celebration is over.

Jun, Sho, and Masaki help Kazunari to step out of the stone ring and Toma takes him to sit on the stairs of the shrine building, asking if Kazunari needs anything but being dismissed by the high priest who says that he is just tired and wants to eat red meat if any is available.

"The palace sent us food," Toma says, "I'll ask the others to prepare for you." Then he adds in concern, "Will you be alright if I leave you here? I'll heat the bath for you."

"I'll ask someone to call you if I need you," Kazunari says. Toma who can see lesser gods and youkai, notices the two komainu of the shrine are giving him a nod to tell him they will watch over the teru teru bozu.

"The rainbow is a nice touch," Sho says to Jun as the five are left alone. The two komainu has entered their statues to give them privacy.

Jun gives a smug grin that he often gives when he has done a good trick. But he slaps Satoshi in the back and credits him for the idea. "And if Kazunari and Sho did not cooperate, it will not appear. So thank you."

Kazunari wraps his hands around Jun, then Sho, Masaki, and Satoshi. He cannot find words to describe his gratitude to the gods who follow human's selfishness. Up to what limit would gods cope up with this?

"Don't worry about it now," Sho pats the priest's head.

"Thank you," Kazunari says.

 

 

  
_I want to stay like this forever._

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The names of the gods appear in this story is as follows, if anyone is curious... 
> 
> Kakeru (風翔 - wind | soar). He prefers to give away only half of his name, Sho (翔 - soar). He is one of the air gods that control the wind. He resides near the shrine's well, in the oldest sakura tree, thus obtaining an alternate name Sakurai (櫻井)
> 
> Masaki (雅紀 - refined | geological period) is a real name. He gives away his name quite freely and more often than not, rather be called by his real name. He is one of the earth and soil gods. Most call him as Kii (紀). Masaki resides in the soil, but he can easily be called when you are nearby big deciduous trees for he loves plants and trees, thus obtaining also a second name, Aiba (相葉).
> 
> Mitsuyoshi (潤喜 - moist | rejoice) is one of the gods of water, but he controls mainly clouds and mist. He is often called using the first character of his name, Jun (潤. He lives in the oldest pine tree (松) in the forest, thus obtaining a second alias, Matsumoto (松本).
> 
> Satoshi (智也 - wisdom | becoming) is one of the gods of wisdom. Some people calls him simply as Wisdom (Chi), but the gods closest to him and Kazunari calls him as Satoshi, from the first kanji of his name. Despite same in pronunciation, if the one calling his name has no knowledge of both the kanji set, the person will not be able to control him. He resides often near farming areas, claiming that it is only after people stopped hunting and gathering and started farming that human started to think higher and deeper, he obtains a name Ohno (大野).
> 
>  
> 
> As for  human names, in case anyone wonder why "peace" is mentioned many times. Kazunari is written as 和也 which means to become peace, or affirmation of peace. It is where Satoshi repeats his wish that Kazunari lives long and makes/creates peace.
> 
> The two TOKIO members are also chosen out of their names. For one, Joshima's name is written as 城嶋 which is composed by two kanji, castle and island, which fits so much with the idea and the shape of the castle of the kingdom. Taichi is also chosen by his family name, although it does not appear in this story. Kokubun is written as 国分 which each has meaning of country and understand, making him seem to fit a position of the king's right hand man. 
> 
> Other names are chosen rather randomly, except for Keiko... because Keiko is Kitagawa Keiko and despite her family name is written as 北川 rather than 喜多川.
> 
> The translation for Teru Teru Bozu song is taken from [here](http://www.jref.com/culture-society/teru-teru-bozu/).


End file.
